Hurdlers going fast – (photo courtesy of Julie.froo)

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What’s the study?

It’s called Strength and power predictors of sports speed, by John Cronin, Keir Hansen, 2005, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

The purpose of the study was to identify the relationship between certain strength and power exercises (such as the squat) and measures of first-step quickness, acceleration, and maximal speed in professional sportsmen.

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What’s the background?

The background to the study is as follows:

The difference between track and sporting athletes – the authors of this study note that for many sporting activities, such as tennis, squash, and basketball, athletes never attain maximum speed during sprinting.  However, in track, maximum speed is always reached.

Why is this important? - well, the speed over the first steps (called first-step quickness) and acceleration are therefore more important than maximum speed for successful performance in those sports.

So what? well, we should observe that the acceleration phase is much shorter for these athletes as compared with top track sprinters.  And, by the same token, since acceleration is more important than maximum speed, the predictors of sport speed should be different from those that apply to top sprinting track speed.

Isokinetic – isokinetic measurements are simply those taken at constant velocity.  The authors note that studies trying to find correlations between isokinetic measures and sprint performance have shown mixed results.  I am not surprised because sprint performance is rarely about moving at constant velocity,

Isoinertial – isointertial measurements are simply those involving a constant weight (i.e. weight training).  The authors note that most studies using isoinertial measurements have used either weight training movements such as the squat or power clean or various types of jumps.  The research in this area has usually resulted in stronger correlations than the isokinetic research.

Correlation – as with yesterday’s study, to make sense of this study, you’ll need to have a basic grasp of what correlation coefficients are.  They are not complicated and in this study, like most others that I have read so far, the coefficient used is Pearson’s coefficient.  This is just a measure of the correlation (or linear dependence) between two variables.  It is presented as a value between +1 and −1.  The higher the value, the stronger the correlation.

***

How was the study set up?

To determine the relationship between strength and power and the measures of speed, various isoinertial and isokinetic strength and power measures were assessed, as follows:

• Maximum strength – 3RM squat
• Maximum power – 30-kg jump squat, countermovement and drop jumps
• Isokinetic strength measures – hamstring and quadriceps peak torque
• Measures of first-step quickness (time at 5m), acceleration (time at 10m), and maximal speed (time at 30m)

The study was performed with 26 either part-time or full-time professional rugby-league players.

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What were the results?

It was an interesting bag of results, as follows:

• 3RM maximal absolute or relative squat strength was not significantly related to any of the jump measures
• 3RM maximal absolute or relative squat strength was significantly related to the hamstring and quadriceps torque
• The measures of power were significantly correlated, (the jump squat, countermovement, and drop-jump heights)
• The jump squat was also somewhat correlated with hamstring and quadriceps torque.
• The strongest relationship between speed measures was between first-step quickness (time at 5m) and acceleration (time at 10m).
• The correlation between first-step quickness (time at 5m) and maximal speed (time at 30m) was weaker. That is, first-step quickness (time at 5m) accounted for less than 53% of the explained variance associated with maximal speed (time at 30m).
• For all three speed measures, the best non-speed correlates were the jump- squat and countermovement jump heights.

In summary, it seems that power measures such as weighted and unweighted jumps have more correlation than repetition strength measures for sprinting.

***

So it’s bad news for heavy squats?

Perhaps, but more likely not.

The measure of maximal leg strength (the squat 3RM) was only significantly related to the isokinetic measures (hamstring and quadriceps torque) and not to the jumps or the sprints.

The authors note that this finding is similar to the findings of the study Relationship among selected tests of explosive leg strength and power, by Costill, D L, Miller, S J, Myers, W C, Kehoe, F M and Hoffman, W M, 1968, American Association of Health and Physical Education.

This study looked at the relationship of various strength and power measures to 40-yard sprint performance using college football players.  They found that squat strength was among the lowest correlations reported in this study.

However, the authors also refer to another study, called The relation between running speed and measures of strength and power in professional rugby league players, by Baker, D and Nance, S, 1999, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

It seems that in this study, also performed on professional rugby-league players, while no absolute strength and power measures were correlated significantly to 10m and 40m sprint performances, measures expressed relative to body mass, were correlated.

And in another study cited by the authors, Physiological characteristics of female 100 metre sprinters of different performance levels, by Meckel, Y, Atterbom, H, Grodjinovsky, A, Ben-Sira, D, and Rotstein, A, 1995, Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, it seems that the relative squat strength (1RM/body mass) for 20 female track athletes and 10 recreationally trained females was found to correlate highly with 100m sprint times.

What is going on?

It is possible that the 3RM measure used by the authors is a poor reflection of the maximal strength of the athletes.  I think this is the most likely cause of this odd data.  The 3RM is not a strength measure for anyone and the further up the ladder you go towards being strong the less correlation there will be between your 1RM and your 3RM.

***

How about jump squats?

The relationship between the 30kg jump squats and other strength/power measures is interesting.  Jump squat height was significantly related to countermovement jump and drop-jump performance.

Does this mean that training with jump squats could improve jumping ability?  Perhaps.  Or perhaps it is the other way around.  Either way, the data is not completely clear.

What happened in The relation between running speed and measures of strength and power in professional rugby league players, by Baker, D and Nance, S, 1999, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research?

Well, this study found no significant relationships between 10m and 40m sprint performance and jump-squat power output at absolute loads of 40kg, 60kg, 80kg, and 100kg.  Strong correlations were found relative to body mass, however.

This discrepancy between the studies was likely because Baker and Nance used a Smith machine for their study and therefore achieved poorer results.  Conclusion: don’t use a piece of machinery to limit athletic performance when you are trying to see what an athlete is capable of doing.

***

Anything else interesting?

I was delighted to see that one of my issues with the sprinting study I reviewed a while back was at least acknowledged here.

In this study, the authors noted that the relationship between isokinetic strength and different countermovement jump measures was found to differ according to whether the outcome variable was recorded as a power output or as a height.  I hated the fact that the authors of the sprinting study ignored the glaringly obvious results of the vertical jump heights achieved by the sprinters and focused on the power outputs achieved by the Olympic lifters.

***

To summarise

In summary, training maximum (1RM) strength (so long as bodyweight does not increase) and power (vertical jumps and weighted jumps) are good ways to improve speed.  Repetition strength is not so effective.

It sounds like a bizarre disease or a heinous crime but actually it’s a website detailing various strength records.  It details some of the more obscure records, including those for grip events, deadlifts and pull ups.

In short, Strengthopedia is definitely worth a look.  Here are a few of my favourite entries:

New World Record in the Orang-utan Hang

Apparently, there has recently been a new world record in the Orang-utan hang.  What on earth is that?  Well, the Orang-utan Hang simply involves hanging from a chin-up bar with one hand.

According to Strengthopedia, on October 8, 2009, 12:30 pm, Matt Bogdanowicz (40, 5’9, 147.2lbs) broke his old record of 1:45 with 1:46.5 left handed.  Unsurprisingly, he also holds the right hand record of 1:37.

World record consecutive chins

In one of my early link posts, I noted that the world record for the largest number of consecutive chins was 612, by Lee Chin-Yong (aptly named).  The source of the link was Bodyweight Basics.

However, Strengthopedia disputes this claim as unproven, noting some contradictory evidence in the Guinness World Records book of 1997, which suggested that the record for chins in one hour was 445.

Strengthopedia believe that the authentic record for consecutive chins is held by Burkhard Meier of Germany (30, 5’9, 165lbs) who did 88 consecutive pull-ups on March 6, 1989 in an annual 4-event competition in Riese, Germany.  Apparently, he actually attempted 95 pull-ups but 7 were not counted by the judges as they did not reach the required standard.

World record weighted chin

Strengthopedia assert that the open record for weighted chins is a 380lb chin by Tim Fergus of Australia at a bodyweight of 178lbs plus extra weight of 202lbs.  It happened in 1983 and was witnessed by Peary Rader, publisher of Iron Man, issue April 1983.

By my analysis, that is 113% bodyweight.  So at my fighting weight of 165lbs (75kg), to equal this record, I would have to do a chin with additional weight of 187lbs or 85kg.

There’s plenty more where these came from!  Why don’t you go and check them out!

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Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring!

As I said yesterday, the first thing I did was to panic.  After all, it’s a British tradition.

Once I’d done that, I put together a few emergency posts on a borrowed computer that I hope you will enjoy instead.  I think I broke several records just typing these in the time I had available.  Normal service, as they say, will be resumed next week.

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A round up of my “how to make” posts

Following the theme set in yesterday’s introducing round up post, I’m doing another round-up of my “how to make your own gym equipment” posts for homemade gym equipment.  While I’m not quite in the same league as Pat Hodgson, I hope you’ll see that garage gyms don’t have to be limited by the lack of variety in the types of exercises that can be done.

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How to make Farmers’ Bars

How to make farmer’s bars – I really enjoyed making these farmers’ bars over the summer.  They really didn’t take that much time or effort to make, either.  Once I’d worked out the basic design, it was just a matter of drilling the holes to slot the dumbbell handles through and loading it up.  The only thing I will change about them if I have the time is the handles.  The slings are OK but they are a bit fiddly and sometimes, if you don’t get the right angle on them when you pick them up, they can slip a bit.

Homemade farmers’ walk bars

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How to make farmers’ bars out of dumbbell handles - these just sort of happened while I was fiddling around in the garage trying to sort out some way of increasing the amount of weight I could load onto a dumbbell.  Once I’d decided that it didn’t work for whatever it was I was doing, I realised that it would work for a quick and easy way to make farmers’ bars.  They won’t be the heaviest weights you’ve ever carried but they’ll be better than just using dumbbells.

Very primative farmers’ walk handles

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How to make a Sandbag

How to make a sandbag - it’s an army duffle bag, filled with plastic bags of sand.  I think the bag cost about £5 from an on-line army surplus store and the sand cost £1.50 or so from a local DIY shop.  I used some twine to help it keep its shape.  I’ve since put a bit more sand in mine and tied it up a different way.  It’s more short and squat now, rather than long and thin, and I use it for lifting and carrying in a similar way to Atlas stones.  I’ll do another post on that sometime soon.

Very simple and very cheap sandbag

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How to make a Glute-Ham Raise machine

How to make a Glute-Ham Raise - there are actually two different ways to make a Glute-Ham Raise in this article.  The first is with a resistance band and the second is the one shown in the picture below, with a pulley and some weights plates.  What is interesting about them is that the resistance is even throughout the range of motion for the pulley but not for the resistance band.  It increases towards the bottom with the resistance band (as it stretches more and more).

This means that with the pulley, you tend to find the movement really easy at the top and quite challenging at the bottom.  With the resistance band, the movement is roughly the same difficulty all the way through.

Dead easy and really cheap to make

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I realised that there a few other exercises that I use the pulley for that I haven’t talked about, including:

• face pulls;
• seated rows; and
• assisted one-arm chins

I’ll do a round up post of how to use a pulley for various exercises soon.  And don’t forget to check out my other round up of homemade gym equipment or visit my homemade gym equipment page for more information.

I sat down on Friday evening, made a cup of coffee, cracked my knuckles and settled down to a couple of hours uninterrupted writing.  Only to find that my computer refused to boot up.

Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring!

Obviously, the first thing I did was to panic.  It’s a British tradition, don’t you know.

I had two posts planned for my hip mobility series and a great one (if I say so myself) about training outdoors in the (delightful) British winter.  Well, they weren’t going to happen now.  All my photos that I had ready to slot in are in limbo on my irritating machine.

So I’ve put together a few emergency posts on a borrowed computer that I hope you will enjoy instead.  Normal service, as they say, will be resumed next week. 

A round-up of my introducing posts

Since my blog recently turned 50 posts old, I thought it might be appropriate to do a round-up of the “introducing posts” that I’ve done over the last couple of months.  Without further ado, here they are:

The Lumberjack Squat

Introducing the lumberjack squat - this is my all time favourite squatting movement.  It’s unique in two main respects.  Firstly, it has no spinal loading so there isn’t the same stress on the lumbar area that happens (particularly) with the back squat.  Secondly, it has a good core and upper body involvement in addition to the basic leg action.

You need to work quite hard to keep the upper body from bending forwards and the fixed but pushing action of the arms feels kind of like the opposite of the fixed but pulling action of the arms in a deadlift.

The Glute-Ham Raise

Introducing the assisted glute-ham raise - I’ve blogged recently about how I’ve plateaued on the glute-ham raise and that I’ve temporarily switched to weighted glute-bridges.  However, that doesn’t mean this isn’t a great exercise and if you’ve got a couple of pull-up bars, a resistance band a pad to kneel on, these are a great way of hitting the posterior chain.

Farmers’ Walks

Introducing farmers’ walks - I had some great fun in the summer building strongman equipment on a shoestring.  The farmers’ bars were one of the successes I had while the weather was still kind.  Using a couple of dumbbells, some weights plates, a few climbing slings and two old pieces of wood, I built the bars for virtually nothing.  I had fun making some sandbags too but that’s another story.

Pull-ups and Chins

Introducing pull ups and chins - most of my regular readers will have worked out by now that the pull up is probably my all-time favourite exercise.  Having said that, I rarely do unweighted pull-ups now.  This picture below is rare footage of me doing a pull-up without a harness on.  Which is probably why I went quite so far above the bar and banged my head on the ceiling…

The Pistol

Introducing the pistol - this exercise is just so much fun and it never ceases to amaze me that untrained people just can’t do it.  And yet with a bit of practice, it’s quite an easy skill to acquire.  Again, I rarely do pistols without weight anymore.  And because of that, I rarely do them on the ground, choosing instead to use a 12″ box.

The advantage of using a small box is that the lower back is put under less stress.  And I confess, I stole this idea from Mike Boyle and I think it works really well.  The outstretched leg can descend lower than it would normally be able to and this means that there is less lumbar flexion.  You can see that there is still some lumbar flexion in the image bel0w, you’d have to be a mutant to avoid it, but it’s a lot less than it would be if I were doing them on the ground.

And I apologise for the horrible gym outfit.  This photo was taken in the height of summer and it was about 100 degrees in my garage.

If you didn’t see these articles the first time around, I hope you find them interesting.  If you did, well, I hope it wasn’t too boring seeing them again!

For those of you who don’t know, climbers are some of the most brutally strong individuals around. 

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John Gill

John gave this interview about training.  Some of the highlights are: 

• When asked which of his strength tricks he considered the most difficult to repeat for others, John replied: “the one-arm front lever, the one-finger pull-up, and the one-arm pull-up on a ½ inch ledge. Take your pick.”
• When asked about his general advice on training, John said “Each of you is unique. Experiment and find what works best for you. Don’t think that the one-size-fits-all approach of some books or gurus will necessarily be best for you. And have some fun training.  Be sure to have frequent rest days, and don’t overstress those small tendons. Gain your strength gradually and safely.”

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Jerry Moffatt

I grew up looking at Jerry’s face on the front of climbing magazines in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  At the time, people were raving about him being the best climber in the world.  To be fair, I don’t think he did much to discourage them.  Jerry did this interview about training.  Some of the highlights are: 

• Jerry describes the seasonal aspect of his training as follows: “in the winter I train power, for three reasons: Firstly, an increase in power leads to an increase in endurance — it doesn’t work the other way around.  Secondly, you retain power longer than endurance… Thirdly, you make smaller power gains, and power is much harder to get than endurance.”
• Jerry explains “Training power you must be totally committed and give it 100%. That’s what power is all about. If you give it 90% you’re not really training power.”
• Jerry sums it all up “I would say this: Enjoy it. If you’re not having fun with your training, then something is wrong.”

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Will Gadd 

I only really became aware of Will Gadd when I got more into ice climbing and I only discovered he had previously been a holder of the world paragliding record when I looked him up on Wikipedia.

Will has written a book on ice and mixed climbing,with a whole chapter on strength training.  I find his very sports specific approach interesting.  He doesn’t just revert to the traditional exercises, like squats, deadlifts, pull ups and dips for strength gains, although those do play a role in his programming.

Some people will say that training strength is not movement specific, i.e. that a vertical pulling motion is a vertical pulling motion.  Will concentrates on replicating the exact moves he does on the crag in the gym.  These include:

• One arm pull downs (to mimic pulling on ice tool)
• Dumbbell hammer swings (to mimic swinging ice tool)
• Staggered pull ups (to mimic offset pull ups)

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Mark Twight

I’ve mentioned Mark Twight before when talking about the 6 sets x 2 reps scheme.  Mark is probably best known for training the actors for the film 300.  Nowadays, he runs a gym called Gym Jones in Utah but he used to be quite a prolific climber. 

Mark has also written a book on climbing, called Extreme Alpinism, which includes a chapter on training.  What I like about Mark’s discussion of training is the way he talks about the small details like he knows them intimately.  Which, of course, he does.

Mark has a number of articles on the Gym Jones website about training and, specifically, training for climbing.  They are all written in Mark’s inimitable style.  If you need a firm kick up the backside to get you moving, check them out. 

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Other resources

The most comprehensive book on training for climbing, or about the training that climbers do, is Performance Rockclimbing by Dale Goddard and Udo Neumann.  It’s a bit dated now, in looks and some of the descriptions, but I don’t have a better text in my bookshelf when it comes to gaining strength in the ways that climbers do.

If you know of some good strength training resources for climbing, please do let me know.  I’d love to hear about them.

“What do you think?” He asks. “I’m going to do squats and heavy cleans on Mondays, deadlifts on Tuesdays, high intensity track sprints on Wednesdays, squats and heavy cleans again on Thursdays, chins and dips on Fridays, followed by a specialist bench workout on Saturdays and some fun cardio on Sundays.” 

The correct answer, of course, is “I think you’re probably doing too much.”

A more helpful, and less weary, response might be “cut out half of it and it might work, depending on how good your work capacity is and how much you are prepared to eat.”

Squats and cleans, a digression

(Personally, I think if you can do squats and heavy cleans with good technical form then not only should you do them but I believe that you have an obligation to do very little else.  But that’s just me having sour grapes about being a really bad squatter and having poor mobility.  I suppose there is something much sexier about squats and full cleans than about pull ups and dips.  Ah well, the grass is always greener).

But I digress.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement of doing something extra in the hope of additional rewards.

I am guilty of doing too much

Well, I confess that I am also guilty of doing too much.

I start with a simple programme, of say, single leg squats, pull ups and dips.  But then I want to improve my bench so I add that in.  But I need to balance that with some rows, so in go some one-arm rows.

After a while, I get irritated by the lack of progress on my bench so I try some pressing instead.  At the same time, though, I can’t bring myself to let go of the bench pressing, so I end up with bench press and press in the same workout.  More rowing ensues.

All the while, I know that unless I practice my front lever regularly, it won’t straighten out.  So that has to go in too.  Because if I don’t keep it in, then I will never be able to start work on my one-arm front lever and one day have my own Wikipedia page, just like John Gill…

And so it goes on and on.  The voice in my head is like a dealer pushing the fitness drug.

How about some hybrid cardio?

I saw this great article yesterday about adding in additional cardio to avoid fat gain while bulking and straight away I was re-evaluating my routine.  Could I fit in some more farmers’ walks? I ask myself.  Perhaps I could go for a short walk around the block with a weighted rucksack before work? Maybe after work? No? Before bed, then?

No? Just a few sprints then

I have this great hill just 5mins jog from my house that I can run sprints up.  It’s probably around 150m long and the gradient is even all the way up.  It’s not a through-road so it’s quiet (unless there is a golf tournament).  I read an article a while back about hill sprints being great for improving hamstring strength and now whenever I stall on glute-ham raises, I’m dying to go and let rip up the hill instead.

Don’t forget to ride your bike!

We’re planning a cycling holiday in March so I feel the need to keep some miles in my legs.  Just a little ride on a Saturday morning, only 25 miles.  And the same again on Sunday? Why not?  Look, you’re not really doing anything on Thursday evenings, so how about another one then?  It all keeps adding up.

Wrist curls don’t count though, surely?

I read an article about improving grip by working on wrist strength a while back.  Soon I found myself wondering whether to include some weighted wrist curls and extensions in a “feeder workout” or after a lower body session.  It’s a small body part, I argued.  It won’t impact on my recovery very much.  A feeder workout! My subconscious will try anything to prolong my pernicious gym habit!

Enough is enough!

I try to keep my enthusiasm in check by writing workout plans and then sticking to them.  If I want to try something new, I might mess around with some light weights to get the feel of it but ultimately if I want to load it up then it has to go into the plan.  By writing it down, I prevent my workouts from escalating too badly.

It’s not really working 100% but it’s a step in the right direction, I feel.  Let me know if you have any other tips for keeping your workouts under control!

• Introducing pull ups and chins - why they are a good idea and how to do them
• What to do if your shoulder hurts doing pull ups – it may not be the end of the world
• Pull up variants – pronated grip, supinated grip, neutral grip, wide grip, narrow grip and elbow flexor pull ups
• How to do more pull ups – how to do more than one pull up

So why would I want to add weight to my pull ups?

If you want to progress your pull ups, then adding reps will only really work for strength until you have got up to 5 or 6 reps.  After that, you’re training strength endurance.  If you want to get stronger (and ultimately bigger too) then you’ll need to make the exercise harder and adding weight is by far the easiest way to do this.

You can do it by starting gymnastic progressions towards the front lever instead but this is a long and arduous road with little in the way of positive feedback to keep you motivated.

OK, I’m sold.  So how do I add weight pull ups?

You can either add weight to your pull ups in various ways:

• Adding weight plates to a dipping belt
• Adding weight plates to a climbing harness using a sling and carabiner
• Holding a dumbbell on your feet (only for the brave)

I have found that a climbing harness works well as you can distribute the load around the belt and this prevents the weight from changing your centre of gravity too much.  I have found that anything over 2/3 bodyweight in one place starts to tip me forwards or backwards.  Once I get above this weight, I start to add plates to the back of the harness to balance myself out. 

So what programme should I follow?

Whatever programme you follow, make sure you change it up every 2 months (or sooner if you stop progressing).  Having said that, I always try to give a programme at least 4 weeks to show some benefit before I switch.

Eventually, you’ll find the sweet spot of a number of weeks that allows you to progress without stagnating.  I find that for a completely new programme, I can go 2 months and still progress.  For a programme that’s only slightly different from my previous one, I can only really go 4 weeks.

Here’s a good example programme:

This is a good starting programme and is useful for getting plenty of frequent practice in.  Note that it’s not an advanced programme, though: I stopped doing these a long time ago because I wasn’t recovering between workouts.  I think I got to about 50% bodyweight (37.5kg) before this happened…

You do 3 workouts per week and alternate between workout A and workout B.

Workout A

• Weighted pull up – 3 sets of 5 reps
• Upper body push (your choice) – 3 sets of 5 reps
• Some sort of deadlift or clean (your choice) – 3 sets of 5 reps (or whatever you like)
• Ab work

Workout B

• Weighted chin up – 3 sets of 5 reps
• Upper body push (your choice) – 3 sets of 5 reps
• Some sort of squat (your choice) – 3 sets of 5 reps (or whatever you like)
• Ab work

So will I get linear progression?

Some of the time.  You’re aiming for it but you won’t get it every time.  My workout logs show that I was always able to move up by about 1.25kg (2.5lbs) at least every other workout on the weighted pull ups and chins.  Sometimes, particularly when starting a new programme, I was able to move up every time.

So do I need to GOMAD?

No.  Drinking loads of milk or taking in vast amounts of calories in other ways will actually harm your progress.  This is not Starting Strength.  It is not a weight gaining routine.  Just make sure you get plenty of good quality protein, vegetables and some fruit.  Drink lots of water.  Sleep as much as your better half will let you.

While this programme may look superficially like a weight gaining routine, it really isn’t.  On weight gaining routines, you’re looking to add serious muscle and fat and if you do this your weighted pull ups and chins will suffer terribly.  On this programme, you’ll need to eat enough to recover properly but not so much that you get huge.

How do I approach the squats and deadlifts then?

It should go without saying that you’re not trying to bury yourself on the squats and deadlifts.  Be sensible.  Find a few exercises you like and focus on quality over quantity.  One legged variants are your friends here.

If you can do pistols, you will get a lot of benefit from following a similar type of gradual progression with these.  Similarly, one leg deadlifts will follow the same incremental pattern.

What happens when this stops working?

Once this stops working, change the sets and reps up.  I would almost always work my way towards more sets and fewer reps over time.  You can try:

• 4 sets of 4 reps; then
• 5 sets of 3 reps; then
• 6 sets of 2 reps; then
• 8 sets of singles

What kind of progress will I see?

If you:

• started with 3 sets of 5 reps
• added 1.25kg every other time
• went all the way through the above set/rep schemes
• for 8 weeks on each scheme (with a deload week every fourth week)

Then after 10 months you would have put about 30kg (65lbs) on your weighted pull up.  This is a conservative estimate.  I think it’s more likely to be around the 40kg (90lbs) mark, which will put you in a pretty small group of people.

What’s next?

Once I got to half bodyweight, I switched to a standard 4-day per week upper-lower split, with 2 upper body days and 2 lower body days.  I did one lot of chins per week and one lot of pull ups.

I used this template with similar set and rep schemes to get to a double bodyweight chin.  You can drop me an email if you want any more details on this.

My bench is playing up at the moment.  It’s not a major stress for me right now because building a bigger bench isn’t in my top 3 goals.  But it might be in my next set of top 3 goals, so I need to keep an eye on it.  I like to plan ahead, you see…

Also, I have been surprised at the lack of transferability between my dipping and my bench.  My dip has gone up considerably in the last 6 months, to the point where my 3RM is 145kg (320lbs) and my estimated 1RM is 155kg (340lbs).  I will be testing this in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!  In the meantime, though, my bench has plateaued horribly at 95kg (210lbs).

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So what am I going to do about it?

Well, I’ve written before about how much I’ve learned about benching properly from Elite FTS and, in particular, Dave Tate.  The main things I have focussed on in the past are technique, shoulder and back stability and overall body tension.  With my pull up work in the background, and the extra rowing work I’m doing, I’m fairly confident that my lats and upper back are up-to-scratch.  I think it might be my arms that are letting me down.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to start planning some additional triceps work for when I’ve finished dieting.  I suspect that I probably need some more muscle mass in order to add significant strength, so I’m looking at both strength and hypertrophy goals.  Before I start writing a programme, though, I needed to do some research and here are the results…

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Researching T-Cell Alpha

There was a recent round-table thread in T-Cell Alpha about building bigger arms and one of the questions asked was “are isolation exercises necessary for triceps mass?  If not, what are the benefits?”  Most of the forum participants provided 2 exercises, so I limited my note accordingly.  As at the time of writing, this is what was recommended:

1. close grip bench + one-arm dumbbell extensions
2. skull-crushers + pushdowns
3. skull-crushers + close grip bench
4. (machine) pushdowns and (machine) extensions
5. extensions and skull-crushers
6. dumbbell press + reverse grip bench
7. 4-board close grip bench
8. close grip bench + EZ bar extensions
9. 3-board close grip bench + close grip bench pin press
10. 3-board CGBP + close grip bench pin press
11. close grip bench pin press with chains + band pushdowns

So that’s 9 votes for close grip bench variants, 3 votes for skull-crushers, 3 votes for pushdowns and 4 votes for extensions (of varying kinds).  Of the 9 votes for close grip bench variants, 6 were for partial reps (either 3 or 4 board presses or pin presses).  The rationale here is that the top part of the rep puts the most stress on the triceps, whereas the lower part of the rep relies more on the chest.

***

Mike Robertson gets technical

I recalled that Mike Robertson wrote a comprehensive article about triceps a while back and suggested two routines for developing triceps strength as follows:

• Routine A workout 1: max bench, throat crushers
• Routine A workout 2: speed bench, close grip decline bench press
• Routine B workout 1: rep bench, weighted dips
• Routine B workout 2: 3-board press, dumbbell extensions

Comparing these programmes with my current routine shows that Mike rates dips (and close grip decline bench, which might as well be a dip once all is said and done) highly for triceps work.  So I’m still puzzled why I’m not really seeing much cross-benefit from them.  Other than that, Mike seems to agree with the T-Cell Alpha results that partial rep presses and close grip bench are the most beneficial approach, followed by extensions.

***

Louie Simmons’ favourite triceps exercises

I couldn’t even contemplate planning a routine for developing my triceps without reading what Westside have said about it.  While I understand that a general principle of Westside training is the rotation through various exercises until progress is no longer made, Louie did do an interview with Powerlifting USA in which he recommended:

• close grip bench presses (all variants)
• dumbbell triceps extensions with the palms facing each other for 6-12 reps for 60 total reps
• JM press to 4” above the chest for sets of 3-5 reps
• straight bar triceps extensions for sets of 5 reps

Again, the overall message seems to be close grip bench presses, partial rep presses and extensions.

***

Conclusions

So that’s the highlights of my research so far.  I’m going to think about it a bit more and maybe do some more digging.  When I’ve got a programme idea, I’ll post it up.  In the meantime, I think it’s pretty clear that the consensus is that a programme comprising (partial rep) close grip bench presses and (dumbbell) extensions would be fairly solid.

• Introducing pull ups and chins - why they are a good idea and how to do them
• What to do if your shoulder hurts doing pull ups – it may not be the end of the world

Are you ready?

OK.  First, let’s chalk up.

If you’re going to do pull ups seriously, then you’re going to need to invest in some chalk.  Otherwise, you’re going to rip your hands to pieces.  If you try and use gloves you might be OK for a while but, as you increase your volume or weight, you’ll find that your grip starts to slip on the bar and you’ll rotate until your hands are where you don’t want them.   And we don’t want that.

The shoulder width chin up

Most people call this a chin up because of the way that the chin tends to come up and over the bar in a curved path.  The important point is that the fingertips are facing back towards the body.  This means that the biceps are used more effectively than if the fingertips were facing away from the body.  The grip tends to be more intuitive for most people, too.  This means that this is the easiest of all the pull up variants and is the one you should generally start with.

The narrow grip chin up

Harder than the shoulder width chin up, this move puts more focus on the biceps and less on the lats.  It is a good exercise to do if you are trying to improve your chin up strength but are finding that your chin up workouts are getting stale.  Swapping between narrow and wide grip chin up workouts for varying sets and reps can provide several years worth of linear improvement (with appropriate deload weeks).

The shoulder width pull up

This is the pull up that everyone thinks of when you say “pull up”. It’s the basic pull up and the one that you’d use if you were climbing out of a ravine or up a tree.  Your fingertips are facing away from you, as they would be if you were climbing upwards.  It’s definitely harder than the shoulder width chin up and probably slightly harder than the narrow grip chin up. 

The narrow grip pull up

This is a slightly more contrived variant, as it is rare that you would need to have your hands so close together when climbing.  However, it does make the standard pull up slightly harder and therefore can be used in a routine to develop arm strength. 

Elbow flexor pull up

Harder than any of the above pull ups, this is the ultimate in biceps exercises.  Despite being a pull up variant and not a chin up, this exercise hits the biceps muscles in a way that is quite unknown to the curls crowd.  Do a few of these with 20kg strapped to your waist and you’ll get a pump like you wouldn’t believe.  The first week I did these I put about half an inch on my arms.

This is the side view.  (Yes, once again we had camera issues and I held this for the best part of an afternoon, which is why I am such an unattractive shade of mauve.  And what is that vein doing in my neck?  I think I need life insurance…)

Summary

So that’s all the pull up variants that I use (excluding front lever work, which is slightly different).  To summarise from easiest to hardest:

• Shoulder width chin – easiest and most intuitive
• Narrow grip chin – slightly harder, more biceps focussed
• Shoulder width pull up – the most functional pull up, a bit harder on the grip
• Narrow grip pull up – harder version of the pull up
• Elbow flexor pull up – hardest version of the pull up, most focus on the biceps

Workouts

The way I use these variants is usually within the following template:

• Workout A: work up to 3RM
• Workout B: sets of reps (6 sets of 2 reps, 5 sets of 3 reps, 3 sets of 5 reps)

The variants can be used to improve as follows:

• progress linearly from 15kg to 20kg with the shoulder width chin, then stall.
• pick up again at 15kg on the narrow grip chin and progress to 20kg, then stall.
• return to 20kg on the shoulder width chin and progress.
• repeat until bored.

Obviously, you could be rotating between shoulder width chins and narrow grip chins on workout A (maxes) and rotating between shoulder grip pull ups and narrow grip pull ups on workout B (reps).  After a while, you could change it up and swap the workouts round so that you were using chins on your rep day and pull ups on your max day.

The trick is keeping things fresh but keeping the weight moving up.